Wednesday, 19 June 2013

The 30 Day Ab and Squat Challenge - What it's really like

So last time I complained about exercise, I was in the process of doing my half marathon. Which I did. Little 'wahoo' to me.

"Wahoo"

But instead of going back to my sofa, throwing popcorn in and around my face with no real direction to target, I have decided to do another stupid challenge.

I read an article on the 30 Day Squat Challenge, and then the 30 Day Abs Challenge.

I'm now on Day 15. Today, I have to do a total of 70 sit ups, 90 crunches, 42 leg raises and a 60s plank. Oh, and 125 squats.

And it's terrible.

I mean, the sit ups are bad enough.

When I begin, my hands are on the side of my head like the picture of the dead thin person on the crunch machine, and I'm breathing in a awesomely professional manner.

But as soon as I reach double figures, my body appears to move in ways I never even thought it could. It moves like a fish out of water, flapping and flopping about on the stupidly slippy mat.

I move from one end of the mat to the other so much so that I swear I have friction burn on my arse. And my perfectly poised hands? They go from doing nothing to literally pulling me up by feebly grasping my knees.

The effects:

So nothing outrageous has happened so far. I still resemble the same person and my clothes are still the same fit.

But there are a few changes to my general well being. I now have no control over my entire stomach area. When I wake up in the morning I have to physically roll out of bed to prevent myself from actually sitting up.

When I cough, it is like Gandalf is slamming his stick into my stomach. And don't even get me started about the sheer horrendous effort it is to get in and out of sofas/cars/seats now.

I swear to god, if I can't wear one of those 'cropped tops' by the end of this I will be having SERIOUS words with whomever's damn idea this was.